BET or Regular Season Title

[Bogg]

How'd those BET titles work out for Pitt when to came to sustaining momentum in the NCAA?

They had three times as many regular season "titles" as they did BET wins. They won the regular season in the both the years UConn won the national championship but not the regular season. If anything, Pitt's postseason struggles were on display in the BET.

[XUFan09]

Actually, if we go back further (using Kenpom years for ease):

- 2002: Maryland won regular season, lost conference tournament
- 2003: Syracuse won regular season, lost conference tournament
- 2004: UConn got 2nd in regular season, won conference tournament (again, my exception where I prefer winning the conference tournament)
- 2005: North Carolina won regular season, lost conference tournament
- 2006: Florida lost regular season, won conference tournament
- 2007: Florida won both, so not relevant in this thread
- 2008: Kansas won both, so not relevant in this thread
- 2009: North Carolina won regular season, lost conference tournament
- 2010: Duke won both, so not relevant in this thread

So, in summary, from 2002 to 2019 (18 seasons), 4 teams won both, so they aren't relevant in this thread. So, out of 14 remaining, 10 national champions lost their conference tournaments, and 9 of those won their regular season championships (2015 Duke is the weird outlier). Of the last 4 that didn't win their regular season but won their conference tournament, 2 got 2nd place in the regular season, so I'd prefer winning the conference tournament. So, there are only 2 national champions out of the last 18 seasons who decidedly didn't win their regular season championship but won their conference tournament championship, 2006 Florida and 2011 UConn.

A regular season champion in a power conference indicates a really good team with strong tournament prospects. A conference tournament champion in a power conference MAY indicate a really good team.

[Hall2012]

I don't really see the "impact on NCAA seeding" argument.

For example - Creighton, Villanova, and Seton Hall are all largely projected to be top 3 seeds, regardless of which one wins the regular reason title. The committee gives zero consideration to which one gets the trophy (assuming someone wins it outright) in terms of seeding. They'll consider the record as part of the overall body of work, but not the trophy (nor the tournament trophy for that matter). Just look at current projections - Seton Hall currently leads by a game but many projections have Villanova (and some Creighton too) seeded above them anyway. Because while it's certainly a great accomplishment, in terms of seeding it simply doesn't matter.

[XUFan09]

I mean, how'd that work out for X?

Translation: I'm not going to engage in your actual post, because it provides evidence of the weakness of conference tournament for predicting the national champion.

Also, I'd rather root for 2018 Xavier than 2014 Providence any day of the week.

[handdownmandown]

I would rather have the season we had with Doug and losing the BET title than the season Providence had that year.

And the options there aren’t league title/BET title either; to me it was four months of fantastic fun in place of one shining moment.

For all the talk about the regular season title being tougher, I don’t think anyone has mentioned the season is a lot more fun. Sweating the bubble is anything but.

[GumbyDamnit!]

Only the Big East newbies would choose regular season... they just don't know what it means to win consecutive days at MSG. NYC. The Mecca. Sold out crowds. There is nothing like it

Did any SHU, PC, Georgetown, Nova, UConn, or SJU fans choose the regular season? I'm curious. And there is no way the coaches of any of these schools would say the regular season over the BET. It is just too ingrained in the fabric of the schools.

I chose regular season. In the oBE would have prob chose BET. The round robin what it is, leaves no doubt as the best team. It's a completely level playing field. Also Saturday night in MSG is a big advantage to the East Coast schools. I would imagine a BET final for BU, MU, X or the Jays vs SHU, SJU, VU or PC would feel more like an away game considering proximity of fan bases.

We're an elite league. Both are feathers for sure. But I want to know that my program can stare in the face of a meat grinder and come out on the other side fully intact.

[XUFan09]

I don't really see the "impact on NCAA seeding" argument.

For example - Creighton, Villanova, and Seton Hall are all largely projected to be top 3 seeds, regardless of which one wins the regular reason title. The committee gives zero consideration to which one gets the trophy (assuming someone wins it outright) in terms of seeding. They'll consider the record as part of the overall body of work, but not the trophy (nor the tournament trophy for that matter). Just look at current projections - Seton Hall currently leads by a game but many projections have Villanova (and some Creighton too) seeded above them anyway. Because while it's certainly a great accomplishment, in terms of seeding it simply doesn't matter.

This year is a weird exception where it's still a three-way race for first place. If you look at past years, there usually ends up being separation between 1st and 3rd, but I would bet this year that we don't see more than a one-game separation at the end. If the third place team this year wins the conference tournament, they'll probably be better off than the 1st place team. Usually you can only say that about 2nd place, that they'd be better off or equal to 1st after a tournament win. It's just a highly unusual Big East season.

[DeadHeadHoya]

Winning BET in 2007 really helped the Hoyas with their final 4 run.

[GumbyDamnit!]

I don't really see the "impact on NCAA seeding" argument.

For example - Creighton, Villanova, and Seton Hall are all largely projected to be top 3 seeds, regardless of which one wins the regular reason title. The committee gives zero consideration to which one gets the trophy (assuming someone wins it outright) in terms of seeding. They'll consider the record as part of the overall body of work, but not the trophy (nor the tournament trophy for that matter). Just look at current projections - Seton Hall currently leads by a game but many projections have Villanova (and some Creighton too) seeded above them anyway. Because while it's certainly a great accomplishment, in terms of seeding it simply doesn't matter.

This year is a weird exception where it's still a three-way race for first place. If you look at past years, there usually ends up being separation between 1st and 3rd, but I would bet this year that we don't see more than a one-game separation at the end. If the third place team this year wins the conference tournament, they'll probably be better off than the 1st place team. Usually you can only say that about 2nd place, that they'd be better off or equal to 1st after a tournament win. It's just a highly unusual Big East season.

And if all 3 tie for first then the BET THIS year will mean a whole lot more. I mean can you imagine a 2nd or 3rd seed in this tourney (after tie breaks) having to play each other on Friday night (and all the emotion that goes with that) and then turning around and having the physical and emotional energy to try to win again on Saturday night. That one seed is going to be HUGE IMO.

[XUFan09]

I don't really see the "impact on NCAA seeding" argument.

For example - Creighton, Villanova, and Seton Hall are all largely projected to be top 3 seeds, regardless of which one wins the regular reason title. The committee gives zero consideration to which one gets the trophy (assuming someone wins it outright) in terms of seeding. They'll consider the record as part of the overall body of work, but not the trophy (nor the tournament trophy for that matter). Just look at current projections - Seton Hall currently leads by a game but many projections have Villanova (and some Creighton too) seeded above them anyway. Because while it's certainly a great accomplishment, in terms of seeding it simply doesn't matter.

This year is a weird exception where it's still a three-way race for first place. If you look at past years, there usually ends up being separation between 1st and 3rd, but I would bet this year that we don't see more than a one-game separation at the end. If the third place team this year wins the conference tournament, they'll probably be better off than the 1st place team. Usually you can only say that about 2nd place, that they'd be better off or equal to 1st after a tournament win. It's just a highly unusual Big East season.

And if all 3 tie for first then the BET THIS year will mean a whole lot more. I mean can you imagine a 2nd or 3rd seed in this tourney (after tie breaks) having to play each other on Friday night (and all the emotion that goes with that) and then turning around and having the physical and emotional energy to try to win again on Saturday night. That one seed is going to be HUGE IMO.

Yup. It's gonna make for a fantastic tournament